Tower



March 5, 1940. TAYLOR 2,192,786

TOWER Filed Feb. 28, 195a 2 Sheetsl-Sheet 1 Fran7HE.Ta y2or March 5, 1940.

F. H. TAYLOR? TOWER Filed Feb. 28, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTO R N EY Patented Mar. 5, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TOWER Application February 28, 1938, Serial No. 193,176

3 Claims.

This invention relates to towers, and particularly to those employed for supporting high tension circuit wires or other loads and which are subjected in service to overturning or breaking 5 strains due to wind pressures on wires, angles or corners in the lines, to breakage of wires, to the weight of the wires or to ice coating thereon in winter time, or to torsional or shearing forces due to unbalanced loads, or to other causes. The invention, however, while primarily directed to improvements in towers for suspending high tension wires, may be embodied in towers of other types, or for other purposes, which may in service be subjected to similar strains.

One object of the invention is to provide a tower structure which is adapted to efiectually withstand such strains.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tower which is so constructed as to allow the loads to be sustained by its constitutent parts to be readily calculated or determined, and thus to allow a tower to be easily designed to withstand all predetermined overturning, torsional, shearing or other forces.

Still another object of the invention is to construct a tower whose configuration may closely adhere at points required to the periphery of electrical clearances.

With these and other objects in view, the in- 30- vention consists of the features of construction,

combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. l is an elevational view of one form of 85 tower constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic perspective view on an enlarged scale of the head portion thereof.

Figs. 3 and 4 are views similar to Fig. 2 showing modified forms of construction.

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view of the head illustrating particularly the electrical clearances.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, A designates the main body portion of the tower and B the line supporting or head portion thereof.

The body portion A is preferably of frusto-pyramidal form, and of any suitable cross-section,

but preferably square, and is formed of four corner legs a united by the usual or any approved type of horizontal and diagonal braces a and a2, respectively. The legs of this tower are anchored at its base in any preferred and substantial way.

The line supporting or head portion B of the tower comprises a pair of line supporting uprights I), b which are disposed outwardly beyond or in spaced relation to two opposite sides of the tower body, extend to a desired level above the top of the tower body and preferably diverge in an upward and outward direction relative to each other or incline upwardly and outwardly at a slight angle to the axis of the tower body. The lower portions of these uprights are connected to each other and to the top of the tower body by a pair of superposed horizontal load sustaining members 0, c. The arrangement is or may be such that the upright supporting and bracing elements a3 connecting the members 0, c on opposite sides of their transverse centers, and which lie in the plane of the tower legs a, are constituent parts of the legs or separate parts attached to the legs and to said members 0, 0'. Each upright b, b, and likewise each member 0, 0 may be of unitary construction or consists of any suitable number of constituent parts. With this arrangement the intermediate portions 02 of the members 0, c extend between the upright elements a3, while the end portions 03 thereof extend between the elements a3 and uprights b, b. The uprights b, b are thus jointed to and supported from the tower body by a load sustaining truss structure of box kite formation, whereby a tower head structure of maximum strength at its base is produced.

Supported by the uprights b, b at a suitable elevation above the load sustaining members is a cross arm :1 which is arranged perpendicularly or substantially so to the axis of the body A. This cross arm is of greater length than the distance between the uprights b, b and embodies a central portion d extending between the uprights and end portions or wings d2 projecting beyond the outer faces of said uprights. From said central and end portions or wings of the cross arm depend insulators supporting the current conducting wires e. To suitable points on the uprights may be attached wires e for grounding electrical surcharges during thunderstorms.

Disposed between the upper load sustaining member 0 and cross arm 12 are knee braces f, f. These braces are vertically disposed, one on each side of the axis of the tower body with their convex sides facing outwardly or toward the uprights b, b and with their concaved sides facing inwardly or toward each other, each brace being of a conventional V-form and of a length conforming to the distance between said load sustaining member 0 and the cross arm d. Each brace f, f is suitably joined at its angle f" to the line carrying upright at that side of the head at which it is arranged and has its upper and lower arms or wings f2, f3 joined at their outer ends respectively to the cross arm (1 and member 0. These knee or cantilever type braces thus provide symmetrical bracing connections between the load sustaining base of the head and the portions of the uprights and cross arm thereabove whereby these parts are united in such manner as to eiTectually resist all load carrying, torsional and' shear strains. The uprights b, b may be designed to support one or more additional cross arms above the cross arm d.

It is not essential that all portions of each upright 13, I) lie in the same general plane throughout the length thereof. Fig. 3, for example, shows a modified construction, among many possible ones, which may be employed wherein the upright b2 illustrated is shown as having its upper line carrying portion b3 above the level of the associated knee brace angle f" inclined at a slight angle to the axis of the body A, corresponding to that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and having its lower load carrying portion b4 inclined at a greater angle to the axis of the body A. Also, as shown in the modified form of the invention illustrated in Fig. 4, the wing portions 04 of the lower load carrying member 0' may extend divergently upward directly from the points of juncture of the corner legs, load carrying member 0 and bracing elements (13 and merge into the lower ends of the uprights b, b at their points of juncture with the wings c3 of the upper load carrying member 0, so that the parts c3, c4 and 03 form triangular braces between the load carrying members at opposite sides thereof. The wings 04 in this case merge into the lower portions of the uprights b, b and constitute complemental parts of the load carrying member 0' and said uprights of said load carrying members. Other conceivable structural changes or variations in the arrangement of the parts are also possible without departing from the spirit of the invention. 7

The construction described provides a tower whose portions are designed to effectually prevent rupture of the tower from disturbing forces and functionally operating to withstand the strains to which the tower is ordinarily subjected without the necessity of making the tower unduly heavy and costly in construction. Should a wire 2 break at point I a force P may be exerted on the tower. Should a wire e break at point 2 a force F may be exerted on the tower. Wire breaks are not, of course, restricted to the points shown, but may occur at other points, and varying forces in the directions indicated may be set up due to a combination of any or all of the Wires e and e breaking. When a force P is encountered the load will be transmitted from b or b and dispersed through c, c and a, which will be held in equilibrium by reactions R and R. These latter parts will transmit the reaction forces to the whole of the supporting structure A which in turn transmits the load to the foundation. When a force P is encountered loads are transmitted to the points of resistance in c,

c and transmitted to A and to the foundation.

When compound forces are exerted it is obvious that these will be met and mutually resisted by the bracing structures c, c, and transmitted to A. The form and arrangement of these structures is such that all stresses and strains, shear, torsional or otherwise will be effectually resisted.

Members 1, f and the portions of members c, d with which they are connected also serve the purpose of transmitting components of transverse load through their portions of the structure, that is to say, loads due to such considerations as wind on the tower members, wind on wires, angles in the line, etc. The form and arrangement of the supporting and bracing parts is also such as to provide a tower whose configuration may closely adhere to the periphery of electrical clearances, as shown in Fig. 5. These clearances may be of other shapes than circular as shown. The form and arrangement of the supporting and bracing parts is also such as to allow a tower to be designed for which the loads to be sustained by the constituent parts may be determined and which make it a simple matter to calculate and distribute the torsional as well as the shearing forces due to unbalanced loads as a result of a wire breaking or from any other cause.

The structures shown in Figs. 3 and 4 provide designs which adapt the parts I), b to cooperate with the bracing members to further resist strains.

From the foregoing description, taken in con nection with the drawings, the construction of my improved tower and the functional qualifications of the elements thereof will be readily understood by those versed in the art without a further and extended description, and it will be seen that the invention provides a tower structure having a head portion of maximum strength to resist strains, but which is so constructed that it may be of light weight so as to avoid the necessity of employing a tower body of cumbersome and expensive type.

While the structures shown are preferred, it will, of course, be understood that changes in the form, details of construction, arrangement and proportions of the parts, other than those indicated, may be made within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

What I claim is:

l. A tower comprising a body portion and a head portion, said head portion embodying uprights arranged on opposite sides of the body portion and extending from below the top of the body portion upwardly and outwardly to a level above the top of the body portion at an angle to the axis of said body portion and in diverging relationship to each other, a pair of superposed parallel horizontal transverse load carrying members respectively connected with the body portion at its upper end and at a point below its upper end and extending beyond opposite sides of the body portion and connected with the lower ends of the uprights, a horizontal transverse cross arm carried by the uprights above the level of the upper load carrying member, and V-shaped knee braces disposed at opposite sides of the axis of the head portion wholly on the inner sides of the diverging uprights between the cross arm and upper load carrying member, each brace having its concave side facing inwardly and its convex side facing outwardly, and each brace having its vertex portion engaging and reinforcing the upright at its side of the head and having its upper and lower arms respectively engaging and reinforcing the cross arm and upper load carrying member, said uprights having upper end portions extending above the level of the cross arm and said cross arm having end portions extending laterally beyond the respective. uprights.

2. A tower comprising a body portion and a head portion, said head portion embodying uprights arranged on opposite sides of the body portion and extending from below the top of the body portion upwardly and outwardly a level above the top of the body portion at an angle to its axis and divergently with relation to each other, a pair of superposed parallel horizontal transverse load carrying members respectively connected with the body portion at its upper end and at a point below its upper end and extencling beyond opposite sides of the body portion and connected with the lower ends of the uprights, a cross arm carried by the uprights above the level of the upper load carrying member, and V-shaped knee braces disposed at opposite sides of the axis of the head portion wholly on the inner sides of the diverging uprights between the cross arm and upper load carrying member, each brace having its concave side facing inwardly and its convex side facing outwardly, and each brace having its vertex portion engaging and reinforcing the upright at its side of the head and having its upper and lower arms respectively engaging and reinforcing the cross arm and upper load carrying member.

3. A tower comprising a body portion and a head portion, said head portion embodying uprights arranged on opposite sides of the body portion and extending from below the top of the body portion upwardly and outwardly to a level above the top of the body portion at an angle to its axis and divergently with relation to each other, a pair of superposed parallel horizontal transverse load carrying members respectively connected with the body portion at its upper end and at a point below its upper end and having Wings at opposite sides of the body portion, the wings of the upper load carrying member being horizontally straight and connected with the lower ends of the uprights at the level of the upper load carrying member and the wings of the lower load carrying member being upwardly and outwardly inclined and connected with the lower ends of the uprights at the same horizontal level as said wings of the upperload carrying member, a cross arm carried by the uprights above the level of the upper load carrying memher, and V-shaped knee braces disposed at opposite sides of the axis of the head portion wholly on the inner sides of the diverging uprights between the cross arm and upper load carrying member and each connected at its side of the Y axis of the head with the adjacent upright and upper and lower load carrying member.

FRANK H. TAYLOR. 

